2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
Mr. Holmes Bakehouse, the San Francisco bakery that went viral in 2017 with the invention of the cruffin, officially opened in Kuwait today.
I dropped by yesterday for the soft opening that was hosted by @pltq8 and other than sweet and savory pastries, they also have a few sandwiches, protein shakes, juices and coffee.
They open 6am to 10pm daily and are located in Kuwait City next to Eighty Six burger, on the same strip as Crystal Tower.
iHop, previously an Alshaya brand closed down their physical locations back in 2021 before eventually closing down delivery as well. Now they’re back in Kuwait again but this time they’re Kout Food Group, the same company that has Burger King, Pizza Hut and Subway amongst other brands.
They just opened their first location at CRE Mall in Mahboula and will be opening other locations including one in Avenues. They’ve also started delivery which is being handled by the cloud kitchen operator Kitopi.
I was always a fan of iHop since they had a pretty good affordable no frills breakfast and some great pancakes. Their Mahboula location is completely out of the way for me so I’m not going to be passing by anytime soon, but definitely will once they reopen in the Avenues.
Not a lot happening this weekend but there is a good variety of different things. check out the list below and let me know if I missed anything.
Thursday, May 18
Zahy Expo
IFK Cinema Night
Workshop: Palestinian Embroidery
Wejha Open Studio Nights
Artistic Studio Nights
Friday, May 19
Zahy Expo
International Museum Day
Voices from the Occupation
Lets Go Thrfting!
Touch of Hope Charity Concert
Indie Print Festival
Saturday, May 20
Al Hamra Music Night
Zahy Expo
Lets Go Thrfting!
Coffee Sunset Sea Cruise
Clothing Swap & Shop
Theater: Out at Sea
TEDxKuwaitCity
Exhibitions:
An Oasis in the Desert of My Soul
Hundred Best Arabic Posters by 100/100
I am Every Woman by Rasa Romanova
Voices of the Occupation by AUK
The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:
New This Weekend:
A Good Person (7.0)
Fast X (6.2)
From Black (5.0)
Other Movies Showing:
Air (7.7)
Assassin
BlackBerry (7.7)
Evil Dead Rise (7.7)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (8.3)
Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant (8.5)
John Wick: Chapter 4 (8.2)
My Fairy Troublemaker (5.3)
Ride On (7.2)
The Black Demon (4.2)
The Pope’s Exorcist (6.1)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (7.4
The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Aladdin – 1992 (8.0)
Mrs. Doubtfire – 1993 (7.1)
The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.
Aquapark, which was the first water park in Kuwait got demolished a few years ago to a lot of people’s dismay. But, another waterpark was built in its place from the ground up with new games and it was given a new name, BayZero. The new park is the largest water park in Kuwait and this past weekend they reopened again for the new summer season.
Entrance to the park is 6KD and they’re open daily from 10AM to 10PM. The park is located right under the Kuwait Towers, behind McDonalds. Tickets can be purchased from their website bayzero.com.kw. For more info and photos, their Instagram account is @bayzerokuwait
Just a quick update on yesterdays post. After watching all the snapchat videos of people stuck at the Saudi Kuwait borders for hours, I spent the whole drive from Riyadh to Kuwait anxious about how long I’d be stuck there for. I figured if I arrived to the border around 3:30, I would probably leave around 6 because of the long queues. Well that didn’t happen.
I ended up arriving to the Saudi – Kuwait border around 2:30pm. The Saudi side of the border was pretty much empty, I didn’t have to wait at any of the passport control windows and just drove through basically. When I arrived to the Kuwait borders thats where I saw the long queue. Two lines of cars stretching maybe 15-20 cars long. Not as bad I was expecting it to be based on the videos I had watched. As I was getting ready to settle in for the long wait, a border control officer sees my car plates and waves to me to skip the queue and head straight down to the passport control window. Turns out cars with Kuwaiti plates didn’t have to wait in this line.
I moved out of the long queue and drove up to one of the free passport control windows, gave the guy my passport, he stamped it and I was done. No biometric scanning or anything. I was worried I was going to spend hours at the border and it ended up taking me less than 15 minutes to cross over, the fastest it’s ever taken me. I’m not sure whats going on, maybe they were forcing everyone to get a biometric scan but the lines were crazy long so now they’re just doing it for non residents?
A reader who landed in Kuwait on Sunday wrote that when he arrived, only the Kuwait/GCC queue at passport control were getting biometric scanning while expats weren’t. I’m assuming this is a soft rollout and eventually everyone is going to get scanned.
While driving out of Kuwait on Sunday morning I noticed huge traffic on the way into Kuwait. I thought it was weird because the border is usually empty in the morning. I later found out the traffic was because of the new biometric scanning. Every person entering Kuwait now has to get their iris, face and finger prints scanned. This applies at every entry port including the airport.
A friend landed in Kuwait yesterday and had to go through the process. I’m heading back to Kuwait today and going by the videos on Snapchat I’m worried I’m going to be stuck at the border for hours. Looks chaotic!
Update: I’m back in Kuwait and posted an update.
I’m in Saudi this week and yesterday I randomly came across Arby’s while on my way to a meeting. I was a bit surprised to find it because I come to Riyadh often and I wasn’t aware they had Arby’s here. Turns out they’ve only been open for less than a week! Obviously, I ended up passing by and grabbing a roast beef with cheddar.
It sucks they ended up closing down in Kuwait, I don’t eat much fast food anymore but Arby’s was one of the few places I couldn’t resist. No idea why they ended up closing down since they were always busy when I passed by so I assumed they were doing well.
Another brand that they have here which should come back to Kuwait is Popeyes. Like Arby’s, I’m not sure why it closed down since it also seemed to be doing well.
Quite a few things happening this weekend, check out the list below and let me know if I missed anything.
Thursday, May 11
The Perfume Exhibition
Summer & Sea Expo
Al Khiran Marina Market
Shlonik? Healing Circle
Oud Fashion Talks
Bloom Music Night
Friday, May 12
The Perfume Exhibition
Summer & Sea Expo
Al Khiran Marina Market
International Aquathlon Championship
Oud Fashion Talks
Havana Night – Painting Experience
Cars N Coffee
Saturday, May 13
The Perfume Exhibition
Summer & Sea Expo
Al Khiran Marina Market
Guided Tour: Grand Mosque
Seashell Symphony Painting Event
Acrylic Pouring Workshop
Storytime: Z is for Moose
Feeding the Sharks
The Art of Surrender
Exhibitions:
An Oasis in the Desert of My Soul
Hundred Best Arabic Posters by 100/100
I am Every Woman by Rasa Romanova
Voices of the Occupation by AUK
The Aware Center is holding a Grand Mosque tour in English this coming Saturday, May 13th at 10:00 AM.
The tour will take you through the Arabic calligraphy exhibition, the main prayer hall, and the Emir’s hall.
Dress Code: No sleeveless shirts nor shorts for men, and full-length cloaks and headscarves for women
Parking: Available at gate 5
Meeting Point: Main Gate of the Grand mosque opposite Burgan Bank
Meeting Time: 9:45 AM
These tours aren’t held every weekend and aren’t always in English so don’t miss it if you’ve been meaning to go. Registration is required but this is a free tour. To register click here.
The movies below are now showing at Cinescape, Grand Cinemas and VOX:
New This Weekend:
Assassin
BlackBerry (7.7)
My Fairy Troublemaker (5.3)
Ride On (7.2)
The Pope’s Exorcist (6.1)
The Locksmith (4.7)
The Portable Door (6.0)
Trauma Therapy: Psychosis (4.5)
Other Movies Showing:
Air (7.7)
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (7.6)
Evil Dead Rise (7.7)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (8.3)
Guy Ritchie’s the Covenant (8.5)
John Wick: Chapter 4 (8.2)
The Black Demon (4.2)
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (7.4
The classic films below are currently showing at the 1954 Film House:
Aladdin – 1992 (8.0)
Jumanji – 1995 (7.0)
The numbers in brackets refer to the IMDB rating at the time of publishing.
Nando’s the popular South African franchise that specializes in Portuguese flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken is coming to Kuwait.
They originally opened at The Avenues back in 2007 but ended up closing down shortly after. This time Apparel Group are bringing them back and they’ll be opening at the new Warehouse Mall which I posted about recently.
I don’t have an opening date but I’ve reached out to Apparel Group and waiting to hear back from them. But, I think it would be safe to assume they’ll be open by Q4 of this year.
In 1960, Ian Fleming the British writer best known for his James Bond series of spy novels was invited to Kuwait by the Kuwait Oil Company. He was commissioned to write a book on Kuwait which he did and called “State of Excitement: Impressions of Kuwait”. However, the Kuwaiti government disapproved of the final manuscript, which they found condescending, and the book was never published.
There are two known copies of the book, one at the Lilly Library in the Indiana University, and another carbon copy sold at auction in 1997 to a private collector. I was given a photocopy of the book last year after trying to get access to one for nearly 5 years. Even though I never have the time or patience to read a book, I made sure I read this one because I knew how lucky I was to get a copy. As difficult it was getting a copy of the book, it was as difficult trying to find any photos of Fleming’s visit. Like the book, they seemed not to have existed, until now.
The photo on top is of Ian Fleming in Kuwait in 1960 on a hunting trip. I got the photo from the British novelist Louise Burfitt-Dons who recently published a book called “Our Man in Kuwait“, a fiction spy thriller based on true events from 1960.
Chapter 13 in Flemming’s book is called “Hunting the Hubarra” in which he discusses a hunting trip he went on in the Kuwaiti desert. Louise’s father, Ian Byres is the one who arranged that trip and took the picture above. In the photo is Ian Fleming on the left, John Collins on the far right who was the public relations officer at KOC, and I believe the person in the middle is a Kuwaiti called Khalid based on what I read in the chapter. Fleming didn’t enjoy the hunting trip, they weren’t able to catch a hubarra (a kind of bird) and blamed it on overhunting in Kuwait. He found the trip a total waste of his precious time and the chapter ends with him going off on a tangent criticizing Lebanon for over 2 pages.
I obviously can’t make copies of the book or upload it online, but I have shared the contents page above you can get an idea of what the book contains.
Tonight (Tuesday, May 9th) is going to be pretty busy at the Contemporary Art Platform with multiple openings taking place. Here is everything happening tonight:
I am Every Woman by Rasa Romanova
A solo exhibition by Kuwait-based Lithuanian artist Rasa Romanova.
Hundred Best Arabic Posters by 100/100
An Arabic posters exhibition in collaboration with @100bestarabicposters and @sharafstudio
An Oasis in the Desert of My Soul
A collaborative exhibition by calligraphy artist Abderrazak Hamouda based on poems by Bahraini poet Dina Bseisu.
Voices of the Occupation by AUK
An exhibition focusing on personal narratives during the time of the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, highlighting the importance of storytelling to preserve and document the history of Kuwait and its people.
All the openings are taking place between 7PM and 9PM. The Contemporary Art Platform is located in Shuwaikh at the Design District where @cure.kuwait and the new @ovokwt are located. For more information check out @capkuwait
A few weeks ago I was invited to the opening of a new burger concept opened called Pattie Pattie. My first thought obviously was that we had too many burger joints already, most tasted the same and we really didn’t need any more. But I still went to the opening and although the burger was forgetful, the space wasn’t.
Pattie Pattie has to be one of the coolest-looking burger joints in Kuwait. I love spaces that bring something visually new to Kuwait, places that transport you to another place, there are a few spots that do it really well, Boost and Ovo for example are two that come to mind. Pattie Pattie is another place now that does the same.
The design of Pattie Pattie was created by the local creative studio WEFT and was inspired by the American fast food culture and the iconic mid-century architecture of California.
The design of the building was born from the limitations imposed on that plot of land. The land measured 365m2 but the permit limited the building size to just 5x18m (90m2). The exterior space had no particular restrictions, as long as the vertical structure was 90m2. As a result, WEFT designed a large canopy cutting across the full width of the plot in a dynamic diagonal composition. To further enhance the size of the small restaurant, they raised the plot by 30cm to frame the building and create a larger sense of scale.
Every design element had a reason from the bold colors to the integration of design-driven playful accessories. The result is basically this beautiful vibrant space that has now become a landmark in the neighborhood. If you want to check out the place in person here is the location on Google Maps or click here to see more.
Photos by @mashkanani